Troublemaker - Butanding

Troublemaker - Butanding - Ink drop

Troublemaker Butanding was released in October, 2020 as part of a three-company collaboration. The ink was packaged together with a reusable, whale shark themed facemask designed by JIM Weaver, a four-woman, wearable art design company. Scribe, the premier pen and ink retailer in the Philippines, handled sales, and the project famously sold out in just minutes!

Troublemaker - Butanding - Color Variation

This truly is a gorgeous, very complex ink! Inspired by and named for the whale shark (butanding in Tagalog), the ink’s colors powerfully evoke images of the majestic animal. In many ways, it blends the look of Abalone and Milky Ocean, two of Troublemaker’s most popular inks.

Troublemaker Butanding is a strong shader, and a wonderful, multichromatic blend of rich pastels. What begins as a bluish grey rapidly reveals pinks, peaches, and tropical blues. There’s a nice edging, as well, which defines in a dark, almost black blue. Stunning!

Troublemaker - Butanding - Dark Edge

This is a fabulous, wet writing ink, too! Wider nibs and coated papers show it off best, but I liked it on all six test papers. Each individual stroke shows varying coloration, and a subtle to strong edge halo. This not only makes it beautiful and interesting, but crisp and clean, as well. Drying time was fairly quick, so on paper there’s just nothing negative to say!

Troublemaker - Butanding - Beautiful Shades

There are a number of popular inks that are in some ways similar to Butanding, but none bring the same intensity of color. None do it quite this well! The problem, of course, is finding this lovely ink, and I don’t have any good news to report on that. This was a very limited project, and likely won’t be revisited. Hopefully Troublemaker will do something similar again, but even if they don’t, they offer lots of other beauties to enjoy!

Troublemaker - Butanding - Ink Swatch Card